STRINES FARMHOUSE

Strines farmhouse was once located on the Brinnington side of the River Tame in Reddish Vale.

You can find Strines marked on old Ordnance Survey maps that were produced before 1934.

The name , comes from a Middle English word 'Strind' which means channel or stream and the reasons for this are obvious since the farmhouse was

'Strines'

built on land overlooking the channel of the River Tame.

Strines was built by a family called Oldham who had already lived in Brinnington for many years before the first mention of the house. They are known from the records of baptism and funerals that were kept by the parish church in Stockport.

The Oldhams were what we call 'yeoman farmers' - people who owned enough land to make a living but who were not members of the gentry. They were wealthy enough to give 13 old pence as their Easter offering to the parish church. The wills of several members of the Oldham family of Strines have survived.

Another official document that mentions the Oldhams of Strines relates to the Hearth Tax they had to pay. Your tax bill was assessed depending on how many hearths you had in your home and at Strines there were only two, suggesting a moderate sized farmhouse.

Grace Oldham, the last member of the family to live at Strines, was there until 1721. Perhaps after that they let out the house or it belonged to another branch of the family with a different name.